This features explores the extent to which Afghan policies towards women have translated into actual change on the ground.

(August 1, 2006) One day, Danish artist and pilot Simone Aaberg Kærn reads in her morning paper the story of a 16-year-old Afghan girl who dreams of becoming a fighter pilot. Flying 3,000 miles from Denmark to Kabul in her rickety canvas-covered plane, Kærn vows to find young Farial and make her airborne dream come true.

Read more facts about women and flying in the Middle East.

Link to more information on female pilots and women in Afghanistan.

In late 2005, I went to Afghanistan to realize the dream of bringing together women from all over the country to provide their ideas on the most important treatise, the new draft constitution. Afghan women leaders told me their opinions were often unheard or not valued.

An imam academy in Morocco graduates 50 women, some of the first women to be officially trained as religious leaders in the Arab world.

Moroccan women, in particular, have achieved some important victories, playing an increasingly active role in politics, and successfully lobbying for a new family law which now grants them equal rights in marriage, divorce and the ownership of property.

Links to information on Islam, education for women, and women's rights organizations.

Producer Anna Cater explains what inspired her to make the film and talks about how globalization is changing the traditional role of women in India.

Link to information on women's rights and gender and the global economy.